


Satellite Call

by Uglysweater



Category: Lunar Chronicles - Marissa Meyer
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-27
Updated: 2015-04-27
Packaged: 2018-03-26 01:49:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3832552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Uglysweater/pseuds/Uglysweater
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Unbroken Promises. In two parts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Carswell Thorne is being dragged through the Hollywood Market on a unseasonably cold September afternoon. He’s fifteen years old. He should be in control of his own life. Not being ferried along like a child. He’s not very happy about it. 

The market is crowded. Not more than usual, but it’s always crowded. It’s fantastic. Carswell can sneak away through the crowd while his mother is talking with her tailer. He knows she’ll be there for at least the next 25 minutes. That gives him plenty of time to scoot over the the booth two aisle over displaying old second era guns. 

He’s darting around a slow moving couple when he spots it. It just sort of glimmers in the corner of his eyes and he skids to a stop. It’s a tiny silver tie pin and it looks exactly like freedom. A 214 Rampion. 

Carswell saunters over to the stand, pulling at his coat and willing it to sit a little better on his shoulders. The shopkeeper isn’t playing him any attention as he picks the tie pin up and turns it over in his hands. It’s cheap and beautiful. He needs it. 

He’s running out of time before his mom is done debating fabrics and it’s only fifteen univs. Carswell waves over the shopkeeper and pays his due before scooting back into the crowd with the tie pin in his pocket.

Carswell rides quietly with his mother back to their home in the city, too nervous that his mother will ask him something and he’ll accidentally reveal the existence of the pin. As soon as the driver slides their hover-ship back into their private lot runs up to his room and empties his pockets onto his bed.

Boots looks up from where she’s curled up on the blanket. She half heartedly swipes at the shiny pin.

“Hey, Boots. No. This is very important. This is my ticket out of here.” He moves it out of her android paw’s reach. Looking at the little pin Carswell Thorne begins to formulate a plan. He’ll have to make sure his parents no longer get updates on his financial standing. He knows the military still uses the older Rampion models, like the 214 for transport. He’ll have to get a little better at counting cards but he’s sure he can get chumps to take bets with skewed odds as long as he flashes a smile. He’ll save up, move out from under his parents thumb, and fly out of here. 

Carswell sneaks out the side window, the window he knows allows him to reach the side railing on the roof, giving him leverage to climb up. He slides up onto the top of the house and Boots follows him. 

He leans back and puts his city-lite background light blocker goggles on. He sighs and watched all the stars get clearer in the filters of the goggles. They’re so brilliant and bright and far and wide and aces did he say brilliant? 

“Thats the one Boots” Carswell says, pointing up at the sky. Boots rubs up against his arm, her synthetic fur not quite warm enough. “That little light up there. That star or planet or whatever. I’m going to get my own ship. This ship. A Rampion. And I’m going to fly up there and rescue damsels and kiss maidens and be a legend.”

The bright light he’s focused on glimmers for a moment and then vanishes and Carswell’s grin fades. He wonders what star it was. He supposes he could get his charts from school out and give a good guess at it but frankly that seems boring. He’d rather just stay out here for a while longer. Looking at the sky he absent-mindedly rubs at Boot’s shoulders. He makes a promise on that star. He’s going to get there. 

The star is a satellite. And she’s looking back.


	2. Chapter 2

The satellite is cold. The tunnels and mines on Luna were cold too so she was used to it, but the dry chill still makes the joints in her fingers sore if she spends too long programming without a break. 

They’re sore now.

 

But the soreness is outweighed by how lonely she is. Cress has been in her lonely little satellite for about a year now. She doesn’t know how much longer Mistress Sybil will want her to stay here. In the mines at least she had other children to talk to, but Sybil says what she’s doing here is very important to the queen. 

Cress doesn’t really care anymore, she’s just lonely. So she types till her fingers are sore. She's building a program with herself inside it. A little Cress, someone to talk to. It’s a really big program and it’s just about done.

It’s so big, however, that Cress is a little worried that it might fry the satellite’s current systems and send the craft plummeting to Earth. Buts it’s really, really lonely up here. It might not be completely worth the risk. 

She’s finished the coding now and is just gathering the courage to launch the program. If it works she’ll have someone to talk to. If it doesn’t, well she’s always wanted to go to Earth. 

Cress spins around in her chair to face another screen. She pulls up her location relative to earth and does a quick calculation. If her Little Cress program fried her satellite she’s land somewhere on the western coast of North America. Sunny skies and warm breezes through palm trees. Perfect. 

Cress takes a deep breath in. Holds it for a moment, before sighing out.

“Here goes nothing little Cress” She whispers, closes her eyes, and presses ‘launch program’ on the screen. 

Cress hears the whirring of machinery. The temperature in the satellite begins to build. The whirring gets louder, and louder Then, quiet.

'This is it’ Cress thinks. 'The satellite has crashed and any second now I’ll begin plummeting to earth.’

The quiet stretches on, but when Cress doesn't feel her home change course she blinks one eye open. 

“Hello?” A voice asks. Her voice. 

“um. Hello.” Cress responds.

“Hello. I am program 900c100-”

“Program, accept commands as 'Little Cress’.” Cress interrupts, leaning over a screen and typing away. 

“Command received. I am Little Cress. Who are you?” The computer asks.

“I’m your programmer Cress. Your big sister.”

“Hello Big Sister. Pleased to meet you.” Cress smiles. It feels a little strange to be talking to herself like this, but under the circumstances there are probably less sane ways she could be talking to her self. 

“Little Cress, run a diagnostics check on our home. Make sure all systems are still running optimum after your launch.”

“Yes Big Sister.” A few beeps from the screen later Little Cress comes back “Big Sister, all systems functioning except for security.”

“What? Whats wrong with security” Cress pulls her chair over to a screen on the opposite end of the satellite. The little craft has minimal security to begin with. Sybil didn’t think Cress would be in much danger. 

“Security system malfunctioning. Automatic Sensor Re-route disabled.”

Cress pulls up the file. The program that keeps her invisible in the sky seems to be taking longer to reboot than everything else after Little Cress launched. If Mistress Sybil found out she’s be furious. Cress remaining hidden is probably the only thing about the security feature Sybil cares about. Cress swipes across the scree, digging deeper into the program. She’ll just have to restart it manually and hope no one saw her satellite drifting by.

“Security system fully functional Big Sister. Well Done!” Little Cress cheers. 

Cress slides over to the only window in her little room and looks down towards the planet below. It’s nigh time in this part of the world. Maybe someone did see her. 

Maybe someone was looking up at just the right moment. Maybe someone will rescue her.

**Author's Note:**

> when will tlc ships week return to me


End file.
